Photo by Donovan Roberts Witmer
26.2 at 80
Most racers know they’re runners before they’re 50. But Heide Moebius is someone who happened to look up one day while playing tennis at Willow Valley Communities where she and her husband reside in Lancaster (willowvalleycommunities.org). She saw a race starting nearby and thought, “Why not?” She was off and running…literally. Since then, she’s run 714 races, and they’re not only 5Ks. Over the last 25 years, she’s run 10 marathons and 100 half-marathons, plus a lot of shorter competitions. Winning 88 percent of these races in her age group, Moebius has become well known on the scene. She still holds an age group world record in the 12K, set in 2014 when she was in the 70-75 category. She ranked as the fifth female senior worldwide at the Stockholm Marathon in 2005, was the honorary chair of the Lancaster Senior Games last year, and had a day named after her in Lancaster. (She’s run all of the city’s races for the past seven years.) In March Moebius was invited to run for the USA at the USA Track and Field Masters World Championship in Poland and won with three gold medals for a 6K, a 10K, and a half marathon.
You’d think all of this might have been enough for Moebius. But she wanted to run one more marathon. In November 2018 she ran a 26.2-mile marathon in Greece. One day after her 80th birthday. Outrunning over 5,000 competitors from over 100 countries, she placed second of eight in the 75-plus age group. Her biggest fan, husband Richard, keeps track of her finishes.
After getting up at 2 a.m. to catch the marathon bus, she walked 1.5 miles back to the hotel for a shower. To celebrate her birthday, the group went out for a great Greek meal (and, of course, some ouzo) and then went sightseeing. She says she wasn’t sore and that nothing hurt, adding, “I was made to run, and it’s good for my body.”
Moebius knows that if she fell, other runners would give up their place to help. That’s just how they are. Once, racing through the woods, she stumbled and hit her head on a rock, opening up an artery. A nurse happened to be running behind her and grabbed another runner’s shirt to staunch the flow of blood. Others tried to carry her to the ambulance but couldn’t, so she walked well over a mile, supported by her fellow athletes. This was her only unfinished race.
In 2002 she found the perfect pair of running shoes (Asics Gel Nimbus) when her luggage failed to arrive in Boston in time for the marathon there. Finishing 11th in the female senior class with no blisters—even while sporting a brand new pair—she says she’ll never buy another kind.
Moebius continues her typical schedule, playing tennis three days a week, running, and competing in races that raise funds for good causes. Competing in the World Senior Games in southeastern Utah, she had a chance to visit her favorite charity: Best Friends Animal Society, which rescues horses, lizards, parrots, and more. Richard says now maybe they’ll have more time to enjoy another passion: opera.
Photo by Jen Foster
Liberating and Life Giving
The first time John Judson traveled to Haiti, he was in a surgical training program at Yale. There were only two well-trained (and overwhelmed) surgeons trying to cover a rural network of over 600 square miles and hundreds of thousands of patients at the Albert Schweitzer Hôpital, located about 37 miles north of Port-au-Prince.
A lack of technology at the hospital meant very basic lab studies, no CT scans, no radiologist, and just a few ultrasounds used for obstetrics. “We diagnosed mainly by physical exams and patient history,” explains Judson. Malnutrition was common, as were typhoid fever, hernias, tuberculosis and AIDS. Still, the work was rewarding.
Like when a three-year-old boy had swallowed a large octagonal coin. X-rays showed what Dr. Judson had suspected; the coin was lodged in the boy’s esophagus. It would have eroded through his body, causing death. Using a tiny catheter to inflate a balloon, they were able to retrieve it. Another memorable incident was at a smaller hospital, where a young lady arrived with an injured liver and internal bleeding from an auto accident. “We had to give her large amounts of IV fluids, antibiotics, and manage her condition,” Dr. Judson explains. “If not, she would have died.”
Thus began Dr. Judson’s love affair with Haiti. His wife Ann Marie didn’t mind the “vacations” he spent there working. An advocate for peace and justice, she was eager to help and headed down with him for a three-month stretch, bringing along their three-year-old and one-year-old. While Dr. Judson performed surgeries and shared expertise with local surgeons, Ann Marie taught French and English at a preschool. “It was liberating,” she says, citing “a lovely Haitian woman” who cooked, did laundry, and watched the couple’s littlest one.
The experience was so meaningful, the couple returned as empty nesters to serve from 1997-1999. Ann Marie says, “The two years we spent there together were very precious, because we actually saw more of each other than we had most of our married life. We worked together, had meals together. It was a very special time.” She assisted with hospitality for international volunteers; Dr. Judson, was serving as the hospital’s medical director and chief of surgery. “It was a lovely country back then,” Ann Marie recalls.
In 1999, the couple returned to Lemoyne. Dr. Judson transitioned to part-time. This allowed him to be active in Rotary, local government service, and Haiti, as well as to fly patients from remote areas to medical care with the US-based Angel Flights. When deciding where to live in retirement, they chose Bethany Village (bethanyvillage.org) in Mechanicsburg so they could continue to enjoy their community.
Dr. Judson has taken over 50 medical outreach/teaching trips, including to Poland and Nicaragua. When Haiti’s 2010 earthquake killed some 300,000 people and displaced at least as many, he gathered a surgical team to travel to smaller hospitals there every year. Due to health issues, he won’t be able to return, but the team continues to go.
Photo by Jen Foster
Giving Back in Memory
Ruth Johnson was familiar with Parkinson’s disease through her career, which included serving as the first director of the first nursing center at Landis Homes. But the disease got up close and personal when her husband Curtis was diagnosed early, at age 46. So began their intense learning curve and their connection to a Parkinson’s support group.
They discovered that medication options for this neuro-degenerative brain disorder were few at the time and that they needed to find a good movement disorder physician. Exercise was also important, so they took long walks together. Fortunately, Curtis was able to continue working at Landis Homes for 15 years after he was diagnosed.
In 1989, the support group they attended outgrew its location and needed a new leader. Ruth Johnson stepped in to lead and got approval to hold sessions at Landis Homes, where she worked for 30 years. She could not have foreseen all the help she’d be able to provide. People call from all over the country, and she takes the time to speak with each one. Besides running the monthly group and its annual social events, Johnson suggested a swimming program and started groups for caregivers and for other group leaders.
While there are more ways to manage Parkinson’s these days, there is still no cure. The learning continues, and although Curtis passed away years ago, the connections the couple made enable Johnson to continue obtaining excellent speakers from Hershey, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, along with local experts like physical therapists. Recently a neurologist from Lankenau drew a record crowd for the group: 195 people came. The information in these sessions assists patients and caregivers, but networking matters too. “Each meeting we have refreshments and sit around the table,” says Johnson. “We talk about what we’re doing and what our therapists are doing. That’s just as important.” For more info, call Lancaster Parkinson’s Support Group, 717-509-5494.
Johnson moved to Lititz’s Brethren Village (bv.org) in 2018, but she continues to lead the group and has assisted hundreds of families. Last year, Landis Homes recognized her as Volunteer of the Year. Deb Laws-Landis of Landis Homes comments, “This has become one of Ruth’s passions and lifelong work. She literally does all she can with each family to give them the resources they need to not just go forward, but also to thrive.”
Tara Ober of Brethren Village agrees. “Ruth is a gem. She’s doing amazing things with the support group and inspires fellow Brethren Village residents to join her in her work.”
